Hybrid Exercises
We’re all pressed for time, and occasionally I’ll have some things that I would like to include in a program that I don’t think necessitates 100% focus on it’s own, or I’ll have a patient or client who won’t do three simple exercises at home, but might do one complicated one. In such cases I might consider combining exercises to increase workout density or physiological demand, or add movement variability. Typically the exercise will be part of the warm-up, corrective or activation portion of a session, but it may also be placed between sets of a demanding lift such as a snatch that does not lend itself to supersetting with another big lift or an aggressive core exercise. From the outside looking in, such exercises are complicated and overwrought, but it is a small price to pay for increased coordination demands and conserved time. I’ll also take heart in the fact that there are some pretty smart people who have also chosen to do this. Here’s an exercise stolen straight from Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning:
Wall slide and adductor stretch with breathing, which combines the following:
Breathing Reset
Adductor Stretch
Training of scapulohumeral rhythm
Another benefit is that through combination you can take exercises that are not terribly functional, such as single plane movements, and get them done a little bit faster, getting a better return on the time investment. Here’s one from the Postural Restoration Institute:
90/90 Wall Leg Lift with Arm Reach:
Breathing
hamstring engagement
posterior tilting and rectus and oblique enagement
contralateral hamstring stretch
serratus and lower trap engagement
Here’s one I gave to a patient with a sports hernia and a "1" for shoulder mobility on the FMS due to difficulty reaching behind his back:
Hybrid Shoulder Extension Bridge with Eccentric Hip Flexion:
Shoulder extension ROM
Gluteal engagement
Hip flexor and Flexor/Adductor strengthening with eccentric emphasis
And a couple more for pre-workout athletes for hip and shoulder mobility:
Hybrid Standing Quad stretch with Shoulder Internal Rotation:
Dynamic quads (through active and repeated passive knee flexion)
Dynamic Hip Flexor (through alternating glute squeeze and posterior pelvic tilting)
Dynamic Shoulder mobility and motor control (through subscapularis lift, active scapular posterior tilting and progressive sliding of the hand up the back
Breathing Reset coordinated with active engagement
Foot on Box hamstring with posterior capsule stretch and thoracic mobilization (the following is about to be obvious…)
breathing
dynamic posterior capsule stretch
dynamic hamstring stretch through hip hinge and/or quad contraction
thoracic mobilization
½ kneeling Overhead stretch with thoracic mobilization and fascial stretch:
balance and motor control
thoracic mobilization
dynamic mobility of the hip through posterior tilting of the pelvis through active abdominal and/or gluteal contraction
- Shoulder mobility
- Stretching of portions of the Spiral, Lateral, and Superficial Front Lines
Most of these exercises won't be appropriate for most of your clients/patients. Mine are meant to be examples rather than suggestions, and were devised as a solution for a particular patient or client population. Part of the price paid for maximizing efficiency is that there are a lot of moving parts. If the complexity is too much for clients to remember, or stability demands are such that they can’t maintain the breathing pattern you have requested, or that the large prime movers you are trying to stretch end up tighter because they are being used to generate stability, you’re losing the benefits of that portion of combination. Take them from standing or kneeling and put them on the floor, or break the exercise down again and integrate later--one objective at a time. It’s a good opportunity to advance and show progression, as well as to create an opportunity to slide more exercises into your program without taking others away or increasing the time needed.